He greets some of the fans that stop to show their appreciation, collects his tips and packs up his torches and machetes. It’s another show in the books, until a night–time busking performance.

“I’ve worked countless random jobs,” said the 26-year-old Toronto native. “Lately, it’s just been this. I went to school last year for welding. I have my tickets in welding and on the side, I’ll do random projects for people. I’ve helped build stuff for restaurants and projects for my friends.

“But most of the time, I hang out, do stunts and make fart jokes. I’m just trying to live the dream,” he chuckled.

Opar, known as Oparty during his performances, is relatively new to professional busking. He had an interest in magic growing up, and after doing sideshow stunts like hammering nails into his face and sword swallowing early on in his career, he settled on his current (and relatively safer) Oparty Party Show. It’s a juggling/balancing act with a dash of comedy and heavy-metal music.

He’s been hitting the streets and working festivals for four years, and has performed in Ontario and Eastern Canada. He plans on escaping the harsh, Canadian winter this year to perform in Florida.

Oparty is one of four busker acts in this week’s Sydney Action Week Festival, and is back for the second time. He’s joined this year by Le Duo Sequoia of Quebec, Ryunosuke Yamazumi of Japan and New Waterford native Patrick Drake, a magician who now lives in Halifax.

“The busking scene is definitely growing,” said Opar. “The plus with these festivals is it makes people more aware of buskers. Not all people think you’re just beggars on the street…These festivals, people can come out and see that we actually are trained professionals.”

There is a well thought-out structure to each busker’s show, and Opar’s act is no exception.

“You start off with your build, or your crowd gather,” he said. “What I do is I play music and slowly setup my props and it just gets the attention of people to come in and start your first little edge of a crowd. You lay your rope out and they usually come and stand in front of that.”

He’ll then do a few warm-up tricks to entertain the few that have gathered. Opar performs three tricks for his show, ramping up the difficulty until the grand finale. Just before he pulls off the big stunt (Sunday was juggling machetes while balancing in the air on a rolla bolla), he’ll do what he calls his hat line — an explanation as to why the audience should put money in his hat following the routine.

“You do your finale, pass your hat and hopefully, go home with a little bit of change in your pocket. By change, I mean big bills,” he joked. “I have a bad back, and paper money is lighter.”

What Opar loves about busking is that it’s accessible to any audience.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re rich, or you’re poor, you can still watch the show. At the end, you can pay what you want,” he said. “Whether you’re a big family and are rich, throw in that $20. If you don’t have any money, shake my hand and tell me that you had fun. I get the joy out of either one of those.”

That experience wasn’t lost on Sunday’s spectators.

“I go pretty much every year that they’re here,” said onlooker Patrick Baldock of Sydney. “I think it’s pretty cool that they can do this for a dollar.

“I don’t think I’d ever have the guts to do that. It’s a little bit out of my league.”

The buskers will perform for the final time on Monday from noon to 10:30 p.m. on the Sydney boardwalk.